Brass Hollow Pins | Cold-Formed to Spec | Manufacturer

Hollow brass refers to brass alloy stock or finished components that have a tubular, hollow cross-section rather than being solid. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, valued for its electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance, and machinability. In pin manufacturing, hollow brass feedstock is cold-formed into precise connector pin geometries without cutting, preserving all the material and eliminating scrap.

Brass is preferred for connector pins because it combines excellent electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance, and formability. It withstands repeated mating cycles without significant wear, solders reliably for PCB applications, and can be manufactured lead-free to meet REACH and RoHS requirements. Brass also cold-forms exceptionally well, enabling high-speed, zero-scrap automatic die rolling production at tight dimensional tolerances.

Electropin uses proprietary automatic die rolling—a cold-forming process that shapes wire or tube stock into finished pins without cutting or heating the material. Tools do not dull over production runs, ensuring dimensional consistency from the first pin to the millionth. This process achieves production rates of up to five pins per second and a defect rate of just 1 in 600,000,000.

Electropin offers four primary retention feature types: Star (which can expand the pin diameter up to 50% beyond the wire diameter), Tabs/Spline, Inscribed Square, and Flat. These features provide anti-rotation and high pull-out resistance for press-fit into metal, post-insertion into molded plastic, and through-hole PCB mounting applications.

Yes. Because Electropin's cold-forming process does not require the addition of lead to improve machinability—unlike traditional machined pin manufacturing—all pins can be produced from lead-free brass. This eliminates REACH and RoHS substance restrictions without requiring special exemptions or compliance workarounds, simplifying regulatory documentation for customers in the EU and globally.

When raw materials are available, Electropin can begin manufacturing and deliver the first batch of cold-formed custom pins in as little as two weeks. Subsequent production batches are delivered on a customer-specified timeline, and production volumes can be scaled significantly when requirements change, without the retooling delays typical in machined-pin manufacturing.